Heavy rainfall leading to high water has caused county officials to close roads and more rain is on the way.

“You can expect some more showers today. You have a band that will probably get to you in another couple of hours and there could be another round of storms this afternoon,” Kristen Yeager, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said about 9 a.m. Thursday.

Timothy Warstler, director of the Stark Emergency Management Agency, said residents living in places that typically flood should have begun preparing.

The weather service issued a flood warning earlier Thursday morning for Stark, Wayne and Holmes counties.

The Nimishillen Creek near North Industry rose to 9.5 feet by 7 a.m. Thursday, about a foot and a half above flood-stage, according to the weather service website.

The river was expected to fall below flood stage by late morning, but at 9 feet low-lying portions of Cheyenne Street, southeast Sparta Avenue and Allenford Avenue were threatened, the weather service said.

The Tuscarawas River at Massillon was at 8.3 feet about 8 a.m. and expected to crest at 10.4, the website said. The flood stage there is 14 feet.

“My biggest concern today is additional rain,” Warstler said.

Yeager said that from 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. Thursday, the Akron Canton Airport recorded 2.28 inches of rainfall.

“That’s huge for us,” said Warstler. “That’s a good amount of rain in 24 hours. For those people living in areas that have experienced flooding in the past, they need to begin their flood preparations.”

ROAD CLOSINGS

Along with several trees down and firefighters in Canton Township, Louisville and Massillon trying to determine whether lightning strikes caused fires there, county officials have closed several roads.

David Torrence, chief deputy engineer for the Stark County Engineer’s Office, said Dueber Avenue NE south of Haut Street SW in Pike Township was closed about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and will possibly remain closed for a couple of days.

“We get a lot of water down there. That’s a floodplain area,” he said. About 1,500 vehicles use that road daily.

Torrence said Broadway Avenue NE by the Norfolk-Southern Railroad tracks south of Route 153 in the Louisville area was closed about 1 a.m. Thursday and Mount Eaton Street west of Brewster also was closed Thursday morning.

MORE TO COME

The weather service listed a 60 percent chance of heavy rain for the Stark County area Thursday increasing to an 80 percent chance Thursday night.

The weather service said showers and thunderstorms were likely “mainly after 2 p.m.” with storms producing heavy rain that could leave the area with up to a half inch of precipitation.

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Rain remained in the forecast through Saturday, the weather service said.

Forecasters expected the temperature to reach 71 degrees Thursday before falling Thursday night to 49 degrees and increasing only to 54 on Friday, the weather service said.

At 10 a.m., the temperature at the Akron Canton Airport was listed at 49 degrees under foggy skies with winds out of the north at 10 mph.